Pages

3.07.2012

Challenge #42—A Spoonful of Sugar

I love the movie “Mary Poppins”, and one of my favorite songs to sing to my kids when they have to do some chores is “Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…” I remind them that they can have a good attitude about it, and it will inevitably get done faster, or at least more happily! But we all have some chores to do, happily or not…so, here is the challenge for you:

What chores around the house do you like or dislike to do?

You can list all the chores to like and don’t like, you can focus on one chore and discuss why you like or don’t like it, you can share some of your secrets for getting your chores done or how you decide when to do them (job chart). Make fun of yourself about a chore you can’t stand to do or how you have changed your mind of favorite and least favorite chores. You can even record how you taught (or are teaching) your kids to work. Whatever you want to do!

Here are some visual ideas to get your juices flowing:

-------------What April did:

I must be crazy because I LOVE to clean! When I'm upset or anxious I really enjoy cleaning. It helps me release tension and have a feeling of control of my environment when other things in my life are out of control. Sometimes it really drives my husband nuts! I grew up doing chores around the house so my mother taught me how to do a good job at cleaning. I really don't mind doing any one thing except putting away the dishes after they have been washed. I don't know why, but I would rather wash 100 sink-fulls of dishes before putting them away. Silly, I know! :)

Credits: Fonts—Impact, Futura. Picture—by April.

-------------What Kim did:

I made a list of five chores and wrote a little bit about each one, and where they are on my love/hate list. (I have a private blog that I use just for the challenges. This way I can put as much or as little time into it as I have. Plus I can add pictures and videos to it as well!) Here’s my list:

#1 Absolute Least Favorite: Can you say Laundry Laundry Laundry? I hate laundry. I can't keep up with it. I can generally keep up with the dirty laundry, but I CAN NOT keep up with the clean laundry.

#1 Favorite: Cleaning the kids room. Toys are easy to clean up. I much rather clean their room than my own. (Mine is just laundry). Unfortunately, I am trying to get them to clean up after themselves now more independently, so they are taking away my favorite chore.

#2 Least Favorite: Dusting. Its not so much that I hate it, I just don't really get around to doing it too often. I don't realize that I need to do it until its noticeable, and that's bad!

#2 Favorite: Mopping. I don't know why, but I don't really mind it. I usually enjoy getting a rag and mopping by hand. It seems to just be the icing on the cake for making everything feel nice and clean!

#3 Least Favorite: The refrigerator. I still have nightmares of cleaning out the fridge from when I was growing up. Moldy left-overs... yuck. I don't let my fridge get that bad, but I still don't like it.

#3 Favorite: Washing the dishes. I used to hate this, but now that I really really hate laundry, I've grown to love the dishes. Also, my husband is really good to help out with the dishes so I don't get as tired of doing them, it makes it more enjoyable when I do them less often.

-------------What I did:

When I was growing up, my least favorite chore around the house was to clean toilets. I hated it how my brothers seemed to pee everywhere. I would often dream of the day that I would have not such icky toilets to clean. As if by some magical treat I am the only girl in my family now…my husband and four boys are not the cleanest of toilet users (I guess that’s a programmed part of being male). To this day I still think it’s ironic…and totally disgusting…

I made a digital layout explaining my least favorite chore as well. (April and I had the same idea!)

I also made a Fast Form for this challenge. You can download it by clicking on the picture. Thank you for following the blog if you download freebies!

Did you notice the cute digital papers I used on my challenge layout and the Fast Form? Most of them are from a kit I’m creating to share with you—I call it “Surfer Boy”! As soon as we reach 150 followers on the blog or 400 FB followers…so share the TIMC with your friends!

Now I challenge you to record all about the chores you get to do! (Unless you are lucky enough to have a maid…)